>> hello and welcome to the "journal" on dw in berlin. >> let's take a look at the headlines. >> pope an addict meets his cardinals were the last time time before his resignation -- pope benedict meets his cardinals for the last time before his resignation goes into effect. >> new rules to set limits on bankers' annual payday. >> a victory over defending champs, dortmund.

history is being made in rome. hope an addict is preparing to retire -- pope benedict is preparing to retire. >> his final act, a speech to his cardinals. he bade farewell and urged unity when electing his replacement. >> a last round of up laws for the departing pope -- of applause for the departing pope. in a few days, a conclave of cardinals will elect a new pontiff. some are worried at the prospect of having both a reigning pope and the retired one. an addict tried to dispel -- benedict ride to dispel any fears of conflict. >> among you cardinals is the future pope. to him i promise my unconditional reverence and obedience.

>> this is likely to be the pope's most important message before he sets off for the papal retreat, castel gandolfo, south of rome. the small town is already getting ready to receive its most important visitor. >> yes. we are getting ready for his arrival. as we have always done. but this time, we hope it will be much bigger, to show our love and our affection. >> benedict will spend two months here, beginning a quiet life of prayer and academic study. castel gandolfo elong stu vatican city, much like a foreign -- castel gandolfo belongs to vatican city, much like a foreign embassy. benedict will return to vatican city. in the future, he will reside

just a few meters away. it is being refurbished in preparation for his arrival. a last kiss for the poope. his decision to resign ahas received extreme action. joining us is our -- has received a mixed reaction. >> joining us is our conflict from -- our contact from rome. is there cause for concern? >> i think there is cause for some concern. that's why he promised in his last address to the cardinals -- he promised reverence and obedience. it's also why he is hiding away behind the walls of vatican city states and not returning to his beloved the very a in southern germany for his retirement -- beloved of area -- beloved bugbear yet -- beloved bavaria

in southern germany. the new pope has to be charismatic, forceful, has to put his own stamp very quickly on the papacy. >> who will be in charge of the catholic church until the new pope is elected? >> the cardinal will take care of the daily running of the church. no major decision will be made until a new pope is elected. >> everybody is wanting to know when that will be. when do you think they will start sitting down to elect a new pope? >> i wish i knew. the pope has made it possible for the cardinals to meet earlier than planned. they are planning to meet -- had planned to meet on the 15th of march. there are pros and cons.

the pros say that we have to get a pope in place before easter, and there is no clear front- runner. this may well be a long conclave. it is important that we start early. the people who are against starting early say not all the cardinals are here yet. they need time. we should not rush this. it is particularly necessary for cardinals who do not see each other every day to meet here in rome before the conclave begins to have private discussions. >> thank you very much for this update. >> catholic churches in germany are planning to ring their bells and hold special masses today to bid farewell to the pope. >> many are also asking if the church was strengthened under the pope's leadership. our reporters traveled to various regions to hear some opinions about the pope as well as his decision. ♪

>> as a practicing catholic, i think his resignation is a big loss. >> he built strong relations with young people, in particular. >> i am hoping for someone a little more progressive. >> he was the one. he entered into religious dialogue with every religion. >> freedom of speech and democracy -- the peace of the world. >> re-think that he achieved a lot, especially in these hard times -- we think that he achieved a lot, specially --

especially in these hard times. >> he did a good job. he initiated interfaith dialogue. this is of huge importance for relations between christians and muslims. >> we don't know him here. he is not very famous. >> he was a conservative pope, a theologist. john paul ii had more charisma. >> contra races were coming up -- controversy was coming up. i think he handled them with wisdom. >> the wise are normally the old people. >> time now to return our

attention to some other international news. supporters are calling it a revolution, but critics are lashing out at the new eu agreement to cap bonuses. it is aimed at a re-piece of the financial crisis. >> those in favor say it will address public anger about the role played by the banks and the economic meltdown. those against it, notably britain's -- britons, say that it will drive talent out of europe. >> the talks took more than 10 months. negotiators managed to clinch the deal despite opposition from the uk. at present, bankers can receive bonuses of as much as 20 times their basic salary. under the new rules, which can come into effect next year, they could be -- capped at one year's salary.

>> most important thing is that banks will be stabilized, that a are better able to withstand the crisis -- that they are better able to withstand the crisis. >> it shows we are implementing what we learned from the financial crisis. >> critics say bonuses can encourage bankers to take unjustifiable risks in order to make more money. some say such behavior caused the financial and banking crisis. from now on, banks will also have to hold more capital as a buffer against any future crisis, a move intended to increase stability. germany also wants to increase -- introduce more regulations for the financial industry, including a law aimed at limiting the risks associated with high-speed trading. crick's say such trading creates volatility in the markets -- critics say such trading creates volatility in the markets. they will now have to register with german financial authorities.

germany hopes other countries will follow its lead. >> our european a poor -- european affairs correspondent joins us with more. how significant is this agreement? >> europe will become the first region in the world to cap bankers' bonuses, so it is quite a big move and a big success for those who have felt indignation that banks in europe have had to be bailed out with taxpayer money while it was their reckless behavior that triggered the problems here in europe in the first place. it is a big political success for the european parliament. parliamentarians actually managed to push through their demands against a very strong position from some eu member states, especially britain, who wanted to allow for more exceptions. >> critics, especially britain, claim this move will cause a drain of highly qualified leaders. how are those concerns addressed?

>> for one, bonuses can still be paid out up to an amount of 2.5 times a banker's annual salary. that is not insignificant. banks are still free to pay as much money as they want to their bankers in terms of annual salary. many people argue there was simply no alternative to get to the core of the problem. they argued that we needed a radical overhaul of the system that rewarded short-term successes rather than long-term thinking and planning. >> thank you very much for that. >> that is the politics. what about the reception in the markets? how are these new proposed regulations going down in frankfurt? >> people think that it is a valid question to limit the bonuses. bonuses are being seen as largely responsible for what

happened in setting the wrong kinds of incentives in order to have risky behavior. so, there is support for that. it is important to gather popular support for the financial sector, which has suffered through this financial crisis. but people do say investment bankers being the people they are might very well find a way around earning less through this. people don't think that is going to happen. >> in corporate news, we have some high-profile german companies out with results. some extremely good. some looking pretty bad. >> bayer is looking very good. they are making a record year. their share price shot up to a record level as well, promising a higher dividend and 2013 being a good year. deutsche telekom, the largest phone company here, not such a good result, 5 billion lost in 2012, cutting the dividend.

that share going down. the market losing a little steam. the dax only 0.5% in the positive zone. the euro stoxx just barely holding on. the euro is also losing speed. >> germany's national rail operator has won around in its ongoing dispute with the european commission over plans to further liberalize the rail market here the court of justice ruled that the network operator could remain a subsidiary of the train operator. >> germany is strongly opposed to proposals to separate rail managers and track operators. for its part, france is thinking of recombining them after separating them 15 years ago. >> a rail operator wanting to use these tracks first has to get a license from deutsche -- from the national rail provider. it decides on routes and schedules for their operators --

the operators and competitors. they also levy fees for usage. here in germany, the operator and the owner are both subsidiaries. the company made an impressive net profit of 2.3 billion euros in 2011. besides passenger operations and freight and logistics, the network operations and services played a major role in those results. their results were helped by subsidies, taxpayer money used to maintain the network. in france, control of the operations was split off when the national operator -- was split off from the national operator in 1997 to increase compensation -- competition. they now want to reunite the entities. they say the separation led to

more delays and more bureaucracy. >> we will have the latest on mali. >> and we will be asking who is the crown undiplomatic language after a delete's election results. -- on diplomatic language after italy's election results.

>> welcome back to the "journal " on dw. german lawmakers are voting on sending more troops to support the french-led mission in mali. their role will be training up mullion forces and providing logistical support -- molly and -- malian forces and providing logistical support. >> paris had planned to withdraw troops next month, but some fighting is still going on. >> mali's political future is uncertain. they have made significant inroads to pushing rebels out of the country.

>> french forces advanced quickly in northern mali. one city after another fell to their control as islamist rebels beat a hasty retreat. local people welcome the french as liberators. many had suffered greatly under the tearing of the islamist militia -- the tearing me -- the tyranny of the islamist militia. many of the cities are now largely back under government control. the islamists were either killed or they have fled. what have they really been defeated? -- but have they really been defeated? >> it is not so advantageous for their local allies to work with them at the moment. so, there is a fragmentation. as a result, these groups are lying low. but they are by no means defeated. >> there is still fighting going

on in the north and suicide bombings are frequent. the idea now is to train up the malian army so they can keep the islamists that they once the french leave. 800 military trainers are being brought in from europe for the task, including some 300 german soldiers. the malian army is considered poorly equipped and poorly trained. there are also rival groups within the military, and there has even been open fighting. a de facto cease-fire is in place. the conflict could flare up again at any time. then there is the delicate task of achieving political stability in mali. the country was long considered an example of democracy in africa, but last year's coup has revealed some fundamental weaknesses. >> to begin with, the coup was

welcomed by large parts of the population. most people were not sorry to see the back of the political elite. that is now a problem because the transitional president with whom the international community is now working is a representative of that political class. and for that reason, he has only limited support amongst the majority of people. >> another problem is that islamist groups are not only active in mali, but in many other countries in the region, too. armed rebels in algeria attacked a gas plant in january, killing 37 foreign workers. mali, niger, nigeria, and cameroon have seen several kidnappings over the last few years. recently, seven french troops were abducted from a national park in cameroon. frank is looking to wrap up its military campaign in mali as --

france is looking to wrap up its military campaign in mali as soon as possible. >> france's intervention in mali has been relatively uncontroversial on the world stage, unlike libya and syria. it even has the support of russia. >> france's president francois hollande is hoping to drum up some business deals and avoid more tensions over a prominent french exile who has been making himself at home in russia. >> cordial talks, but the russian and french leaders could not be described as close friends. francois hollande came to moscow with seriously most guessing issue. he wants vladimir putin to rethink his support for the assad regime -- the most pressing issue being syria.

he wants vladimir putin to rethink his support for the assad regime. it is a different frenchman whose company vladimir putin refers -- prefers, gerard depar diueu, who made another visit to russia earlier this week. he is treated as a hero wherever he goes. his presence has dominated french-russian relations of late. >> the french president has to ignore that and focus on his work. his main challenge is to expand trade relations between france and russia. france, right all eu countries, is in a crisis and needs new markets. >> is another of hollande -- that is another of hollande's priorities on this visit. >> in germany, the man who

wants to replace angela merkel as chancellor in september is in hot water over italy's e -- election. >> he spoke of the near winners as clowns. one of them, beppe grillo, is a comedian, so he might not be that defended -- offended. >> the other is silvio berlusconi. he is a two-time former prime minister. >> the italian president's state visit to germany has been overshadowed by the diplomatic incident created by peer steinbrueck. italy and germany would continue to work together, despite occasional irritations. >tuesday, peer steinbrueck referred to a delete's former prime minister -- to italy's

former prime minister as a clown. >> when one talks about things concerning another friendly, allied country, and about the result of a free election, one must be well balanced in his choice of words. >> he would not be drawn into the matter. >> i do not wish to comment. some statements are sufficient in themselves. >> he said italy would soon have a new government, insisting the country is not ungovernable. >> the world health organization says certain cancers are more likely to develop in the area worst hit by japan's nuclear disaster two years ago. the who says girls exposed to radiation around the devastated fukushima nuclear plant have a 78% higher chance of getting thyroid cancer. >> the number of leukemia and

breast cancer cases is also expected to rise. radiation was spread over many kilometers following the earthquake and tsunami that triggered meltdowns at several reactors. >> still to come, we have a thriller in the german cup as bayern took on dortmund. >> what else is making the news today? >> the united states says it will start providing food and medical supplies directly to syrian rebels. secretary of stat john kerry made the announcement following a meeting with the friends of syria group in rome. he also promised an additional $60 million to help the opposition provide basic services in services in rebel- controlled areas to >> the u.s. senate has confirmed the appointment of jack lew as u.s. secretary of treasury -- as treasury secretary. he will be sworn in later today. >> police in australia have made a record seizure of the drug methamphetamine.

they discovered almost 600 kilograms of the drugs hidden in a chemical shipment from china. the estimated read value is 350 million -- street value is 350 million euros. three arrests have been made. >> bayern munich fans are celebrating their team's victory. it was a long time coming. emmy bayern's second win over dortmund in the past three years -- only iron -- bayern's second win over dortmund in the past three years. >> bayern's top dogs could not have been more pleased. >> we played some perfect football. it does not get any better. >> a year and were the better team from the outset -- bayern were the better team from the outset. there was a score in the 43rd minute. the game's only goal.

>> we just wanted to win. we wanted to show everyone what good form we are in. i think that is what we did. >> dortmund seemed to wake up in the second half of the game, but it was not enough to put bayern's lead in any danger. >> to beat bayern, you have to play good football for the entire 90 minutes. >> the victory was even sweeter since munich failed to win its last six games against the current cupholders. in the end, it was only bad blood that stopped bayern from making it 2-0. >> a financial tycoon and a team of space experts are planning a mission to send a married couple on a historic journey to mars and back. the trip would take over a year to complete and could cost over $1 billion. >> the team, led by multimillionaire dennis tito,

who was himself the world's first space tourist, is hoping to launch the mission in early 2018. while the u.s. space station -- space agency is not involved in the project, it said the venture validates president barack obama's decision to rely more on the private sector for space exploration in the future. >> and you really have to like space travel. over $1 billion. >> and you would have to really like your spouse. i wonder what the catch is. >> start saving money. thanks for joining us. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--